The extraction of a desired object from an image is referred to as object segmentation. The segmented object may be suited for the application of object recognition, modeling or the like. Recently, an image segmentation technology known as “GrabCut” (also known as “Interactive Foreground Extraction using Iterated Graph Cuts” or “Interactive Image Segmentation using an adaptive GMMRF model”) has been made publicly available by Microsoft® Research Cambridge UK. An overview of the GrabCut technique may be found in Rother et al., “GrabCut: Interactive foreground extraction using iterated graph cuts,” ACM Trans. Graph., vol. 23, No. 3, 2004, pp. 309-314. The GrabCut technique makes it possible to remove a background behind an object from an image with a mouse pointer aided operation.
One of the problems encountered with the GrabCut technique alone is that it requires manual input in selecting objects within images. Inherent limitations imposed by the GrabCut technique cause the resulting quality of segmentation to be unpredictable and otherwise poor, requiring experimentation on the part of the operator.